Deciphering the Emperor

CaliforniaVirgo

Hi all!

I hope I am writing in the right thread.

There are a few cards that sometimes stump me and the Emperor is one! I have successfully read him in many spreads, often appearing as an Aries male, but lately he's been confusing me again.

My question is how can I be sure if he is representing a person or characteristics someone needs to adopt?

Most recently he appeared as the outcome for a friends love spread. She is single so I first thought maybe this was a man coming up in her future. I do use clarifiers as I find they help me immensely. The clarifiers were: 4 of cups, lovers and 2 of cups. I read this as a relationship coming up but that she may miss him if she has her head in the clouds. The reading did show she received some upsetting news, so I thought this would make sense that she would be distracted and miss out on a potential partner.

Thoughts?
 

Nemia

I don't usually read majors as characteristics or persons; that's what the court cards are for. I read them as archetypical powers in our lives that we have to deal with, that can help us, influence us or baffle us.

The Emperor is the typical authority person, the father archetype, the one who decides, who leads, who rewards and punishes. As outcome in a relationship reading, this might hint to a repetitve pattern (looking for partners who are like the father or who replaces a father who was not emotionally available), to a power imbalance in a relationship or paternal qualities in a man.

I don't know how you usually read clarifiers, I don't use them and certainly not three. So I'll read them like a four card spread about the querent's future love life.

The two cups cards show that obviously there are emotions involved, on the one hand the dream of a union and on the other hand, an emotional impasse. And the Lovers talk about decisions.

I don't know which deck you used, how many other cards your spread had and what the other cards were. I don't even know what the question is :)

The Emperor has the nr. 4 and the 4/Cups would tell me that a Father figure problem might be the reason for her emotional stagnation and indecision right now. Or some echo of an oppressive or overly protective male authority in her life. (In combination with other cards, the Emperor can show his positive side but here I think the 4/Cups brings out his difficult side, putting a break on the emotions).

The Lovers tell us to keep our eyes open (to make the right choice) and the 2/Cups are about trust and the ability to accept and love unconditionally.

So I'd see these four cards as two pairs: the Emperor and 4/Cups holding her back, the Lovers and 2/Cups giving her a good chance of finding love.

It depends on her. I'd give her the two scenarios of the four cards and do a spread permutation, i.e., re-arranging the cards in the spread without pulling new cards, to see what the cards that appeared can tell her so that SHE can move into a direction that leads to a relationship. If this is what she wants.

Sorry, my reading style is not predictive and this is probably not helpful.
 

Thirteen

A word about clarifiers...and the Emperor

If you're still confused about the Emperor, I'm guessing all those clarifiers didn't clear things up. ;) Which doesn't surprise me. Clarifiers often muddy the waters. Why? Well, when you put down clarifiers, what you're saying to the cards is "I didn't understand that. Say it again in a different way..." So clarifiers can often confuse because the answer hasn't changed. It's just being said "differently." Several times. Which means to understand the answer, you have to ask "What do those four cards have in common: Emperor, 4/Cups, Lovers, 2/Cups.

(1) They all have still and stable persons. Sitting in three of the cards, standing in the Lovers. (2) They all involve a choice: 4/Cups to reach for something more, Lovers to follow a magnet pull, 2/Cups to go deeper. In short, they are all about deciding if you will take this person hand and start to walk with them or if that's a bad idea because you'd be leaving behind someone or something that needs you.

Emperor: To know how to read the card as a person or something else, consider, first the situation. The situation is a relationship. If it was "what will happen if I go to this meeting" it might well be a person...you go to the meeting you encounter the Emperor. But it's not. It's a question about the *relationship*--that's whatever is between the two of them, right? Not about what one or the other is going to become. And you laid down those clarifiers. If it was a person, the clarifiers might well have been more "persons" like King/Wands. So. The clarifiers are all about making a decision. And there's the Emperor. The ultimate decision maker. The one who says "This is what is best and right for the kingdom...do it!" His #4 stablity relies on him laying down laws and making sure everyone follows them. It relies on him containing his personal passions and using them for everyone's benefit.

Outcome: The relationship is on a path leading to important and mature decisions. The two will not be able to give into needs, desires, wishes. They will need to rein in their passions, and do what is best. That could mean the two of them might, in all maturity, have to say, "we shouldn't go any farther with this...it's not responsible." THAT is the outcome if the relationship remains on the road it's on. If the person you're reading for doesn't want that outcome...take out the card that represents what the person wants, lay it down as the "last/outcome" card. Ask the cards how the person can get to that outcome, then do the spread--laying down all the other cards in the spread. All the ones leading up to that desired outcome. Then tell the person what they need to do different.
 

CaliforniaVirgo

Hi Nemia and Thirteen and thank you for such detailed responses.

I was using the gilded tarot is that helps. It was a love reading for a girlfriend of mine who is single, and has been for sometime.

I did once think of the Emperor as daddy issues and I have seen it come up in such cases, but she claims her father was the best person around. He is now passed and I do understand we sometimes worship the ones who are no longer with us as it's easy to forget their imperfections. Seeing the kinds of men she chooses, daddy issues would make sense but she denies any complicated relationship with him.

And yes, I once clarified the Emperor and the king of wands appeared and the querent's partner was in fact an Aries. I will keep in mind that Majors are not usually people. I have heard that before, so thank you for reminding me!
 

Thirteen

Seeing the kinds of men she chooses, daddy issues would make sense but she denies any complicated relationship with him.
As you say, if her father was the "best person around" then she's likely using her father as the measuring stick, the gold standard, for a husband. And she may have a hard time accepting any man who can't live up to him. Conversely, if she's picking not good guys who can't possible measure up, then she may, in fact, want them to fail. No man should be able to take the place of dad.

But this certainly explains the Emperor...no clarifiers needed. That idealized dad may be standing in the way of her finding prince charming. Whether good men can't measure up, or whether she'd deliberately sabotaging herself by going for men she knows fall short, and therefore can reject. Thus keeping dad always in that spot, never having to replace him with a new, living man.

And you know what? It's not a "daddy issue" per se. As children, some adult couple (usually our parents) is going to make an impression on our little kid selves and it is going to stick: "That is what a husband-wife relationship should be." Or, in a worst case scenario, "That is what a husband-wife relationship is and there's no fighting it" (but, clearly, that's not the "issue" here). "That is the kind of man I want for my husband" was the likely impression her dad made on little girl self. And it's perfectly normal and natural that her adult self, somewhere in her subconscious, may be searching for a man equal to her father for a husband. And it's perfectly normal as well (though troubling and sad if this is the case), if losing dad makes it hard for her to "replace" him in her heart with another man. Thereby keeping her single whether she admits that's the "issue" or not.
 

CaliforniaVirgo

wow!

Thirteen,

Wow, this is amazing. I read this to her and she said this is not the first time someone has mentioned that to her. I think this really helped her! She is going to try and be more open to who comes across her path.

Thank you for such great insight!